"Of course," said Grace; "and also C and D, and so on, down to X, Y, Z. A woman, armed with sick-headaches, nervousness, debility, presentiments, fears, horrors, and all sorts of imaginary and real diseases, has an eternal armory of weapons of subjugation. What can a man do? Can he tell her that she is lying and shamming? Half the time she isn"t; she can actually work herself into about any physical state she chooses. The fortnight before Lillie went to Newport, she really looked pale, and ate next to nothing; and she managed admirably to seem to be trying to keep up, and not to complain,--yet you see how she can go on at Newport."
"It seems a pity John couldn"t understand her."
"My dear, I wouldn"t have him for the world. Whenever he does, he will despise her; and then he will be wretched. For John is no hypocrite, any more than I am. No, I earnestly pray that his soap-bubble may not break."
"Well, then," said Let.i.tia, "at least, he might go down to Newport for a day or two; and his presence there might set some things right: it might at least check reports. You might just suggest to him that unfriendly things were being said."
"Well, I"ll see what I can do," said Grace.
So, by a little feminine tact in suggestion, Grace despatched her brother to spend a day or two in Newport.
His coming and presence interrupted the lounging hours in Lillie"s room; the introduction to "my husband" shortened the interviews. John was courteous and affable; but he neither smoked nor drank, and there was a mutual repulsion between him and many of Lillie"s _habitues_.
"I say, Dan," said Bill Sanders to Danforth, as they were smoking on one end of the veranda, "you are driven out of your lodgings since Seymour came."
"No more than the rest of you," said Danforth.
"I don"t know about that, Dan. I think _you_ might have been taken for master of those premises. Look here now, Dan, why didn"t you _take_ little Lill yourself? Everybody thought you were going to last year."
"Didn"t want her; knew too much," said Danforth. "Didn"t want to keep her; she"s too cursedly extravagant. It"s jolly to have this sort of concern on hand; but I"d rather Seymour"d pay her bills than I."
"Who thought you were so practical, Dan?"
"Practical! that I am; I"m an old bird. Take my advice, boys, now: keep shy of the girls, and flirt with the married ones,--then you don"t get roped in."
"I say, boys," said Tom Nichols, "isn"t she a case, now? What a head she has! I bet she can smoke equal to any of us."
"Yes; I keep her in cigarettes," said Danforth; "she"s got a box of them somewhere under her ruffles now."
"What if Seymour should find them?" said Tom.
"Seymour? pooh! he"s a m.u.f.f and a prig. I bet you he won"t find her out; she"s the jolliest little humb.u.g.g.e.r there is going. She"d cheat a fellow out of the sight of his eyes. It"s perfectly wonderful."
"How came Seymour to marry her?"
"He? Why, he"s a pious youth, green as gra.s.s itself; and I suppose she talked religion to him. Did you ever hear her talk religion?"
A roar of laughter followed this, out of which Danforth went on. "By George, boys, she gave me a prayer-book once! I"ve got it yet."
"Well, if that isn"t the best thing I ever heard!" said Nichols.
"It was at the time she was laying siege to me, you see. She undertook the part of guardian angel, and used to talk lots of sentiment.
The girls get lots of that out of George Sand"s novels about the _holiness_ of doing just as you"ve a mind to, and all that," said Danforth.
"By George, Dan, you oughtn"t to laugh. She may have more good in her than you think."
"Oh, humbug! don"t I know her?"
"Well, at any rate she"s a wonderful creature to hold her looks. By George! how she _does_ hold out! You"d say, now, she wasn"t more than twenty."
"Yes; she understands getting herself up," said Danforth, "and touches up her cheeks a bit now and then."
"She don"t paint, though?"
"Don"t paint! _Don"t_ she? I"d like to know if she don"t; but she does it like an artist, like an old master, in fact."
"Or like a young mistress," said Tom, and then laughed at his own wit.
Now, it so happened that John was sitting at an open window above, and heard occasional s.n.a.t.c.hes of this conversation quite sufficient to impress him disagreeably. He had not heard enough to know exactly what had been said, but enough to feel that a set of coa.r.s.e, low-minded men were making quite free with the name and reputation of his Lillie; and he was indignant.
"She is so pretty, so frank, and so impulsive," he said. "Such women are always misconstrued. I"m resolved to caution her."
"Lillie," he said, "who is this Danforth?"
"Charlie Danforth--oh! he"s a millionnaire that I refused. He was wild about me,--is now, for that matter. He perfectly haunts my rooms, and is always teasing me to ride with him."
"Well, Lillie, if I were you, I wouldn"t have any thing to do with him."
"John, I don"t mean to, any more than I can help. I try to keep him off all I can; but one doesn"t want to be rude, you know."
"My darling," said John, "you little know the wickedness of the world, and the cruel things that men will allow themselves to say of women who are meaning no harm. You can"t be too careful, Lillie."
"Oh! I am careful. Mamma is here, you know, all the while; and I never receive except she is present."
John sat abstractedly fingering the various objects on the table; then he opened a drawer in the same mechanical manner.
"Why, Lillie! what"s this? what in the world are these?"
"O John! sure enough! well, there is something I was going to ask you about. Danforth used always to be sending me things, you know, before we were married,--flowers and confectionery, and one thing or other; and, since I have been here now, he has done the same, and I really didn"t know what to do about it. You know I didn"t want to quarrel with him, or get his ill-will; he"s a high-spirited fellow, and a man one doesn"t want for an enemy; so I have just pa.s.sed it over easy as I could."
"But, Lillie, a box of cigarettes!--of course, they can be of no use to you."
"Of course: they are only a sort of curiosity that he imports from Spain with his cigars."
"I"ve a great mind to send them back to him myself," said John.
"Oh, don"t, John! why, how it would look! as if you were angry, or thought he meant something wrong. No; I"ll contrive a way to give "em back without offending him. I am up to all such little ways."
"Come, now," she added, "don"t let"s be cross just the little time you have to stay with me. I do wish our house were not all torn up, so that I could go home with you, and leave Newport and all its bothers behind."
"Well, Lillie, you could go, and stay with me at Gracie"s," said John, brightening at this proposition.
"Dear Gracie,--so she has got a house all to herself; how I shall miss her! but, really, John, I think she will be happier. Since you would insist on revolutionizing our house, you know"--
"But, Lillie, it was to please you."
"Oh, I know it! but you know I begged you not to. Well, John, I don"t think I should like to go in and settle down on Grace; perhaps, as I am here, and the sea-air and bathing strengthens me so, we may as well put it through. I will come home as soon as the house is done."